Retail

Central Massachusetts is a region that likes to wax nostalgic about bustling main streets and tight-knit mill communities. A lot has changed over the decades, with shifts in the way people do their shopping, the decline of traditional manufacturing, and the rise in tech industries. And our communities have shifted with the times.

Like so many of the nation’s indoor shopping centers, the Galleria slowly died over the 20 years after it opened. Today, the former mall space is known as CitySquare.

While Central Massachusetts business leaders have seen substantial diversification among small business owners in the past three decades, the same cannot be said for those among the area’s highest-paid.

How do you whittle 35 years of headlining business news down to a couple thousand words and a few pages? You don't. But here, we take our best shot to highlight the companies, individuals, and moments that left a lasting impression.

WBJ has an extensive physical photo archive from the days when businesses sent in black-and-white photos of their executives and new hires.

You can define success in myriad ways: holding your ground; uncompromising ambition; the relentless pursuit of excellence; steady as she goes; staying a step ahead. The one thing shared in common by the most-heralded and well-run companies Worcester Business Journal has chronicled over 35 years is a bit of all these things.

The 3.58-acre shopping plaza located at 164 Milk St. was sold by Smart Retail LLC of Framingham to Indira Investments LLC in a deal finalized on Oct. 8, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds Records.

Tom and Nick Bedrosian always knew they wanted to go into business together. Growing up, the brothers did not know what their business would look like, but after creating an all-purpose seasoning in their family kitchen, an idea for a spice company was born.

Hendler Family Brewing was already the largest brewer in Central Massachusetts.

Preliminary construction has begun at a long-vacant lot at 5 Madison St. in Worcester, the future site of a six-story, 110-unit apartment building.